[hubby's girl]

"Sorry, just an observation... the realtors don't charge the buyer anything...."

No, they just cost them thousands with errors and the additional cost of the house that the seller needs to pay the realtor.


(Like many new home buyers, when I bought my first house, I saw in the listing document that the appliances came with the house, and my realtor assured me they did as well. I didn't know about the statute of frauds at the time and learned later that no matter what the seller says, or the buyer says, or the realtors say, if the contract doesn't say it, it is not a part of the deal.)


Robustus....cecnj wrote that she "hopes" to buy in Summerlin. I would hardly call that an insistence let alone use use the pejorative "silly".

[airics]

i don't think finding the home is the problem... it's finding the realtor that will work with her... i was just at my brokers, and asked the simple question if they would show several homes to a client without an exclusive right... the answer was "no"....

[airics]

Originally Posted by hubby's girl

"Sorry, just an observation... the realtors don't charge the buyer anything...."

No, they just cost them thousands with errors and the additional cost of the house that the seller needs to pay the realtor.

then you should be buying the home at auction without the help of a realtor... simple.
and you should read everything that you sign... and you should have had a clause in the contracts that would have allowed you to get out of the contract.. period...

so imo, it is both your issue as well as your realtor's.

[MadManofBethesda]

Originally Posted by airics

i don't think finding the home is the problem... it's finding the realtor that will work with her... i was just at my brokers, and asked the simple question if they would show several homes to a client without an exclusive right... the answer was "no"....

I've gotta agree with hubby's girl on this one. I wouldn't want to sign an exclusive agreement and then find out after a couple of days that we didn't really work well together (for whatever reason). I've never signed a buyer's agent agreement with an agent anywhere that I've lived (including the four months I worked with an agent in LV) and I've never had a problem finding an agent with whom to work.

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by hubby's girl

Well airics....there are HONEST realtors out there who are willing to work with you under your conditions. Why would you tie yourself to a moron who only wants a quick sale, is not willing to show you more than 4 properties a week, knows nothing about contracts, and will cost you a fortune if you get stuck with them?

The last idiot I had didn't even know that a counter offer counteracts the language in the original offer!

I have had enough of paying fools tens of thousands of dollars to incorrectly fill out paperwork, show me houses I have found myself through my own research, not put in all sorts of protections for me in the contracts, and have CMAs (comparative market analyses) cherry picked to try to force to me offer 20% more than needed.....or conversely suggest you sell for 20% under market. And woe the person who tries to argue with them! They seem to think you work for them!

Realtors do NOT have your interests in mind. All they want are quick sales and if that costs you an extra 30k, what do they care?

My recent experiences with realtors:
They lied to each party in my last sale of my house and the buyer and seller had to get together and get the realtors out of the way to get the deal done. Oh, we paid them their cut, but we had to all negotiations without them.

I was told that all appliances were included in the house...oops...our realtor forgot to ask for them in the contract and that cost me thousands.

Seven realtors came over to tell me how much to sell my house for. If I had listened to them I would have lost 50k. My house sold in 2 weeks.

So, if a realtor has no interest in showing me a property...no skin off my teeth. I have saved myself from someone who could care less what my interests are and only wants to protect themselves. I refuse to be scalped.

(Oh, I didn't say you shouldn't agree to buy a house with them if they SHOW you the house. But many realtors have contracts that won't let you even LOOK with another agent. Those are the objectionable contracts.)

You are a fountain of facts. Unfortunately mostly wrong.

Phoenix is about 2.7% more expensive than Las Vegas according to the NYTimes CofLiving Calculator. Also pays about 7% less. So most do better in Las Vegas.

The property tax in Maricopa County AZ and Clark County NV ia virtually identical. They calculate them differently but get to the same result. About 1% of market value.

If you don't want a moron for an R E Agent...don't hire one. Try a few simple questions...The dumb don't answer them well.

Most of Summerlin has a single HOA at about $47 per month. There are places with two or more fees but they are generally gated and have other faciliities.

SID/LIDs exist but come in to many flavors. Some places have none. Others have old ones that can be removed in the sale process. Newer ones may have large ones that need to be considered..and then you do. There is however no general rule.

All HOA feesand SID/LIDs are covered on an MLS sheet. Though you should at least check to make sure they got it right. They often don't. Particularly on REOs and such where the agents are often sloppy.

For half acre type places the NW is often the best opportunity. Simply the biggest and most consistent RNP. All RNPs are free form...so you can find almost anything next door. If you want to control what is next door you have tgo buy it.

[Farmgirlok]

[quote=hubby's girl;18166025]Hi. My husband and I have just moved here from Phoenix, so no worries about weather. We are currently renting a house while we search for a home to buy. The fees and property taxes are a shock to us. For a 320,000 house with country club frontage we paid 1800 a year in taxes and 300 every 6 months for HOA dues. (Oh, and those state income taxes we had to pay that you don't...ran us $272.00 total last year).

Needless to say, we won't be able to afford anything close to what we had back there. The additional fees bring us down to affording a house in the low 200,000s. And forget about houses on a country club out here for that kind of price.


Anyway...long rambling story to ask this question:

We found a house in the Paradise section of town. Around Oquendo and Lamb area/ Russell and Sandhill area.

I don't know what to make of that area. On one side you see homes for 6 million and then a mile away are garbage heaps I wouldn't pay 10k for.


What can anyone tell me about that area? Is it falling apart or does it have a chance of coming back up? And that water bill? It does have a pool, but not a very big one.





As a resident in the area you are asking about, I sadly would have to say no, I wouldn't fall too much in love with a house. I know what you are saying: there are some very nice houses near Oquendo. The further south of Tropicana you can get, the better, in my opinion. Our neighborhood, which was once upscale, is now more ghetto. Most of the original owners saw the handwriting on the wall and got out during the boom years. Because of a family situation that required our attention (out of state), we failed to get the big bucks for our house. Now most of the neighborhood is vacant. The few people who are moving in are not desirable. Our house has been broken into twice.....once when I was in it!!!!!!!! And there have been at least two visible attempts. Pool Vac was stolen out of back yard and several other things, and the back yard is not that easy to get into.......well, maybe a thief thinks not.

Someone else posted about the grocery stores. Most close to us have closed along with numerous other stores. The closest grocery store that used to be really nice is now dirty and understocked. And I wouldn't dare go there after dark. I used to shop at all hours, and I used to walk to the local 7-11. No more.

Good luck.

[squishy506]

Originally Posted by cecnj

Good advice. I'm happy to hear that your electric bill has not been astronomical, as reported by others on this thread. Like you, a gardnener would never be on my list of needs (I prefer desert landscape to importing grass).

I live in a slightly larger house, and I think we get near $400 in the summer for our electric bill. We keep it as hot as possible without killing our ferrets, and the house is only two years old, so I'm not sure how Exaday is keeping his bill so low. That being said, you still could have a high electricity bill with a smaller space. I work in apartment management, and quite often the residents tell me their bills are $200 (1000 sq ft unit). I don't know what they keep their thermostat on, and the windows are not energy efficient, so I know that makes a difference, but it's hard to believe it makes that much of a difference.

[airics]

Originally Posted by MadManofBethesda

I've gotta agree with hubby's girl on this one. I wouldn't want to sign an exclusive agreement and then find out after a couple of days that we didn't really work well together (for whatever reason). I've never signed a buyer's agent agreement with an agent anywhere that I've lived (including the four months I worked with an agent in LV) and I've never had a problem finding an agent with whom to work.

thats not an issue... you sign the exclusive.. if it doesn't work out, you cancel it.....

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by MadManofBethesda

I've gotta agree with hubby's girl on this one. I wouldn't want to sign an exclusive agreement and then find out after a couple of days that we didn't really work well together (for whatever reason). I've never signed a buyer's agent agreement with an agent anywhere that I've lived (including the four months I worked with an agent in LV) and I've never had a problem finding an agent with whom to work.

There are any number of states you have to stay out of. An EBA is required by a dozen or so to show houses to a client.

It is however not common in Las Vegas. I don't use it and have actually never seen one here. I might use one in special case...ie devoting a month or more to a single client...but otherwise we don't need it. Get burned once in a while. But mostly people treat you fairly if you treat them that way.

[airics]

really because when my broker was Prudential, they highly highly emphasized it... one of the reasons, i left